Copending Application Ser. No. 182,639 filed Aug. 29, 1980 in the name of the present inventor discloses a process for the administration of nicotine, or the like, to human beings, as a spray, vapor or related form, so as to serve as an alternative to smoking while still satisfying the user's addiction to nicotine, without many of the harmful by-products of actual smoking.
The instrument of the present invention, in one of its uses, may serve as a means for enabling a user to inhale nicotine formulations on demand, and in a manner which simulates the actual smoking of a cigarette. However, it will become evident as the description proceeds that the instrument of the invention has other uses. For example, the instrument may serve as a means for the ingestion of other substances, and provides a portable demand-type inhallation device which is capable of delivering such substances into the mouth of the user, either with or without the concomitant inhalation of a quantity of air mixed with the particular substance.
A feature of the instrument of the invention, in one of its embodiments, is the provision of a casing which includes a chamber in which the substance to be ingested is contained in a pressurized state, for example, by means of an aerosol propellant. When suction is applied to one end of the casing, the chamber is opened and the pressurized substance therein in dispensed into the mouth of the user either in a measured dose or as long as suction is applied. In this way, total control of the amount of the substance administered to the user is controlled by the user himself by the simple act of oral inhalation, and without the need for any other operation.
The instrument of the invention is not limited to the ingestion of "nicotine" since, as mentioned above, it may have other uses. For example, the instrument may be used as an effective means for administering both pharmacological and non-pharmacological agents and formulations which, in the practice of the art, are determined to be both useful and safe. The instrument may be used to dispense confections, breath fresheners, mouth washes, anesthetics, analgestics, antibiotics, antihistamines, tranquilizers, and the like.